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K&N in my 2016 TC observations


Willygee
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K&N air filter in my 2016 TC for the last 7k miles. It came pre-oiled...i want to say acceleration was smoother but that may be marketing psychosis.?It is due for cleaning and reoiling. Observed my MAF sensor when i pulled it to access transmission vent/fill and sensor looked clean.Need to be cautious over oiling ..if too risky i may go back to a OEM Motocraft filter. 40k on vehicle . Central Fla air so not to dusty. What do others think?

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I'm a fan ... they can move a lot more air and keep working well for longer periods between service. Paper filters can be a real problem with condensation and humidity.

 

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And yes, they come pre-oiled. When you DO re-oil one, make sure you let it drip out prior to installation. Just letting it drip out for a while before starting up will keep any excess oil from going where it don't belong.

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19 hours ago, mrtn said:

It's a gimmick. It does nothing but mess up the MAF and allow too much dust in your engine.

 

I have to agree with this. From my younger car-modding days, people were often effectively replacing a deliberate and specifically engineered design that in all likelihood made the best compromise between ducting/sourcing air, maximizing flow, and protecting the filter element for filter longevity and serviceability with a tube whose engineering design rigor was likely the equivalent of "we made it fit in your vehicle's engine bay" as well as fitting an exposed aftermarket filter that operates exactly as mrtn says here.

 

With just the K&N filter, yeah you might gain a little more flow in the short term (why do this in a cargo van), but it is at the expense of allowing more dust/particulate into your engine combustion chambers. K&N as a business has been a great success in marketing if nothing else.

As for the moisture and humidity issue with OEM air filters, I can't say I've ever had that issue in the Pacific NW. While the temperatures in the bay would tend to bake out any moisture and humidity in operation, perhaps air filter degradation could be an issue if the vehicle sits unused for long periods of time in a humid climate. Even so, your standard air filters are cheap to replace and easy to access to check for damage.

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  • 2 years later...

For what it's worth, the K&N filter has paid for itself and saved money for me.  If I were to have changed disposable filters every year, the expense would be over $100 by now.  It's a little bit of work to clean and reoil the K&N.  According to K&N, you can use those filters for a really long time between service intervals.  But I don't think I will wait 50,000 miles, 75,000 miles, or 100,000 miles to clean the filter.  I just do it by eye.  If the filter looks dirty, I clean and oil it.  From my experience, you can never get those things 100% clean.  Or at least I've never been able to get everything that is stuck to the wire cage holding the filter media.  

 

 

 

When I took the air intake off to change the battery, I took a look at the filter.  A lot of debris.  The throttle body was pretty clean, which may mean that the filter is working.   I've heard of how filter oil gets sucked into the tube, saturates the MAF sensor, and pollutes the throttle body.  But I suspect that is usually from somebody not oiling the filter correctly from the outside, putting too much oil on the filter, and not waiting for the oil to saturate and fully absorb into the filter media.  

 

 

 

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Just an anecdote.  No science what-so-ever.  I installed a K&N oiled filter in my ex's car.  We drove to Vegas & back.  I kept every receipt and calculated the miles per gallon.  With each fillup, and for the entire trip, we got about 10% better fuel mileage.  No real science.  Just a car that got about 26 miles per gallon, getting 29 miles per gallon.   Many factors contribute.  When your car usually drives short trips in stop & go traffic, suddenly gets a long highway trip..... cruise control set to highway speed.....  CA gas versus NV gas ethanol levels..... long flat stretch of highway for hundreds of miles.......  

Edited by Fifty150
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It takes me a few days to get around to shaking off the loose dirt and debris, spraying the cleaning fluid, and rinsing it out.  Then I wait a few days for it to thoroughly dry.  Then I oil it, and wait at least a day for the oil to fully soak into the filter media.  

 

I decided to buy an extra paper filter for when the oiled filter gets serviced. 

 

Wow.  Air filters have really gone up in price.   It was only a few years ago.  2020.   On a 2016, I had already cycled through 3 paper filters, which at the time, was about $10 for a Motorcraft from the dealer.  Lube shops would charge about $20 for a paper filter (installation included), when you got your $20 oil change.  The paper filter was almost $6 with tax.  It was slightly lower in cost compared to Motorcraft.  The filter and cleaner was about $50.  I figured that it would take me about 8 years to break even and 10 years to come out ahead.  Paper filters have gotten so expensive, that I'm already ahead.

 

 

 

 

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Like most auto parts, there are only a few manufacturers.  Every brand comes from the same factory, with a different label.   Ecogard, Premium Guard, and Purolator part numbers even end in the same 4 digits.  The actual product looks the same.  Every brand gets away with selling it for whatever price you are willing to pay.  Every brand has skyrocketed.  Based on the idea that you change a paper filter every year; the oiled filter seems like a bargain.    At today's prices, 3 annual filter changes have already paid for my oiled filter.  This is year 4.  I'm in the money.

 

 

 

 

 

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Winter.  First month of the year.  Makes it easier to remember maintenance, if I forget.  I can always say that I must have done it in January.  Although I do keep a record online with the Ford Owners website.    I swapped the air filter in the truck.  Took out the oiled filter for cleaning.  I'll get around to cleaning it and reoiling sometime this week...... Maybe.   I have a dry filter for this purpose.  And I am so lazy, the oiled filter may not go back into the truck for years.  Why do it if the dry filter isn't dirty?  

 

 

Any opinions on the dry filters like AEM?

 

 

 

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I don't remember how long the oiled filter has been in the truck.  Maybe 8 or 10 years.  It really was not that dirty.  But there was dirt.

 

 

 

 

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Edited by Fifty150
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To me, this filter is clean.  Next is oil.  The biggest fear is over-oiling.  I added oil very lightly.  Then slowly waited for it to soak in.  The worst thing is when you add too much oil.  I added the oil from the side facing the air.  Then monitored the side facing the sensor.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 3/19/2021 at 4:14 PM, mrtn said:

It's a gimmick. It does nothing but mess up the MAF and allow too much dust in your engine.

 

 

 

There's a lot more going on than I can understand.  

 

In theory, the car's computer measures the volume of air, and the temperature of the air, in order to adjust the amount of fuel.  Cold air is denser, and more fuel is added.  Hot air is not as dense, so less fuel is added.  In theory, the car is most efficient with hot air.  That is why OEM engineering is an enclosed air box under the hood, with the intake pipe going over the front of the engine.  Cold air will cause a richer fuel mix, which may or may not be just wasted fuel.  Tuners are allegedly able to recalibrate the air/fuel mix, timing, spark, etc to take advantage of that and produce more power.  A cold air intake, or even just an oiled filter, may simply just be a waste of money and fuel in the mix, without custom tuning.  I don't know.  

 

What I do know is that the Transit Connect intake air temperature, the last time that I looked, a few days ago, was 120 degrees.  When I looked at the intake air temperature for the F-150, which has a cold air intake, was 54.  I will assume that ambient air temperatures were about the same.    Intakes do "work" in the sense that yes, you do get cold air as opposed to hot air.  But simply just installing an intake does nothing, unless you like to lift the hood to show your friends.  I suspect that an oiled filter may be similar.  The filter alone does not gain any sort of performance.   Maybe the oiled filter does allow for more air flow, and the fuel mix is richer; which just means more fuel wasted.  My butt is not sliding in the seat, and my head is not snapping back.  

 

 

 

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Edited by Fifty150
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